Rotary engine



Y No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

' s. s. BLEVINS.

ROTARY ENGINE.

No. 578,197 Patented M8122, 1897. Y

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UNITED STATES I ATENT Fries.

SIGLE S. BLEVINS, OF OTTAWVA, KANSAS.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 578,197, dated March 2, 1897. Application filed May 6, 1896. Serial No. 590,466. (No model.)

To all whom) it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIeLE S. BLEvINs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ottawa, in the county of Franklin and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Rotary Engine, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention aims to provide a rotary engine which will convert a maximum amount of steam or other motive medium into available energy, operate noiselessly, reduce friction, adapted to have the supply out 01f at any stage or relative position of the piston, so as to drive the latter by the expansive force of the motive medium, and which will be simple and compact in the arrangement of its parts and be at all times under control for starting, stopping, reversing, or varying the cut-off.

For a full understanding of the merits and advantages of the invention reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings and the following description.

The improvement is susceptible of various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof, and to a fulldisclosure of the invention an adaptation thereof is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rotary en-. gine constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention. Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, having the head of the casing or cylinder removed from the near side. Fig. 3 is a detail section of the inner cylinder and pistons. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatical view showing the manner of constructing the cylinder or casing whereby the bore or chamber of the latter is elongated at diametrically opposite points. Fig. 5isasectional detail view of the engine, showing the relative disposition of the parts. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a rocker-valve on a larger scale, showing the means whereby it has slidable connection with its supporting-shaft.

Corresponding andlike parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in the several views of the accompanying drawings by the same reference-characters.

The cylinder or casing 1 has a base 2, by means of which it is supported in an upright power medium from the cylinder.

position, and its bore 3 extends through both sides of the casing and is closed by'heads 4, which are bolted to the casing or otherwise firmly held in place. A steam-chest 5 is located upon the top side of the casing and a supply-pipe 6 communicates therewith, and an exhaust-port 7 leads through a side of the casing and has communication with the steam-chest. A slide valve 8 operates within the steam-chest to control the admission and the exhausting of the steam or other Ports 9 are disposed upon opposite sides of the exhaust-port 7 and establish communication between the steam-chest 5 and the bore or interior of the cylinder 1.

Circular chambers 10 are formed in the length of the ports 9, and rocker-valves 11 operate in these circular chambers to cut off the supply at the proper time, whereby the full benefits of the expansive force of the steam or motive medium may be had. Each rocker-valve has a handle 12, which is connected, by means of a pitman 13, with a wristpin 14, applied to a gear-wheel 15, journaled to a hanger 1o, loosely mounted upon the axle 17 of the inner cylinder 18. A gear-wheel 19, mounted upon the axle 17 so as to rotate therewith, is in mesh with the gear-Wheel 15 and rotates the latter when the engine is in operation, so as to cause an oscillation of the rocker-valves 11 to cut off the motive medium when the pistons reach the required position relative to the bore of the cylinder or casing.

Each rocker-valve 11 has slidable connection with its supporting-shaft 11 in the ordinary way common in this class of engines, so as to admit of the valve unseating to provide for the escape of the spent steam when the valves are turned to extend across the ports leading from the chambers 10 to the bore or opening 3 of the cylinder. WVhen the steam is out off by the rocker-valves, the one controlling the live-steam port is held closed by the pressure of the steam, and the one controlling the eXhaust-port opens to permit the escape of the steam. The shank of the rockervalves is slotted, and a flattened portion of the shafts passes through the slot of the respective valves to cause the latter to turn with the shafts.

A hand-lever 20 has connection at its lower end, by means of a link 21, with the hanger 16 and near its upper end with the slide-valve 8 by means of a rod 22, and this lever is held in an adjusted position by means of a handlatch 23 and a notched segment 24. Bya proper manipulation of the hand-lever the position of the slide-valve can be changed relative to the ports 7 and 9, so as to reverse the movement of the engine and also to change the relative position of the rocker-valves to cut cit the supply of the motive medium when the pistons reach a certain position in their stroke or travel.

The bore or opening of the cylinder or casing is elongated horizontally, and its side walls are struck from independent centers arranged in the same horizontal line and equidistant from a line passing vertically through the axis of the inner cylinder or center of the cylinder or casing. This construction of the bore or opening provides an extended steamspace at the sides of the inner cylinder, and as a consequence the pistons present a greater extent of surface for the impact of the motive medium. Hence the capacity of the engine is greater than if the bore or opening were formed on a true circle.

The inner cylinder 18 has radial slots 25 disposed at diametrically opposite points and extending through its ends, and in these slots the pistons 26 are slidably mounted, so as to preserve a steam-tight joint at their outer ends with the inner wall of the cylinder or casing 1. The inner cylinder is eccentrically mounted with respect to the cylinder or casin g 1, and its upper portion comes close against the upper wall of the cylinder or casing 1, and a steam-tight joint is had by a sliding abutment 27, the latter being located intermediate of the ports 9 and below the exhaust-port 7. A stem 28 operates loosely through a bore or opening connecting the inner ends of the radial slots 25, and its terminal portions enter openings in the inner ends of the pistons 26, and a coil-spring 29, mounted upon the middle portion of the stem 28 and playing freely in the opening through which the stem passes, bears at its terminals against the inner ends of the pistons 26 and forces the latter outward, so as to secure a steam-tight joint between the outer ends of the pistons and the inner wall of the bore or opening 3. As the inner cylinder 18 rotates, the pistons 26 and the intermediate parts 28 and 29 slide radially, so as to adapt the pistons to the eccentric relationship between the inner and outer cylinders to preserve a steam-tight joint between the extremities of the pistons and the inner wall of the bore 3, which is essential to the working of the engine. It will be understood that the edges of the pistons will be suitably packed, so as to insure a close fit between them and the adjacent parts of the oasin g. The axle 17 is preferably an integral part of the inner cylinder, although this is not essential, as it may be applied thereto in any way common in the mechanic arts, seas to secure a firm and substantial connection. The heads 4 have bosses 30, which provide extended bearin gs for the axle l7 and which are intended to receive the packing employed for securing a steam-tight fit. The power is taken from the axle 17 in any of the usual ways, preferably by means of a belt which is placed upon a band-pulley or fly-wheel 31, secured to the axle 17.

IIavin g thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. In a rotary engine, the combination of a gear-wheel adapted to be rotated by means of the engine, a valve for reversing the engine, regulating-valves for cutting oil the motive medium, connections between the reversin g an d cut-off valves and the gear-wheel, and means for changing the relative location of the gear-wheel to alter the cut-off when the piston reaches any required position in its stroke or travel, substantially as set forth.

2. In a rotary engine, the combination of a valve for controlling the supply of motive medium so as to reverse the engine, valves for controlling the'cut-ofl.', a gear-wheel having connection with the cut-oiT-controlling valves and rotated when the engine is in operation, and a hand-lever having connection with the reversing-valve and the gear-wheel to control the position of each, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a rotary engine, the combination of a gear-wheel caused to revolve with the axle of the engine, a hanger loosely mounted upon the axle, a second gear-wheel in mesh with the first-mentioned gear-wheel and carried by the hanger, rocker-Valves for controlling the cutoff and operatively connected with the second gear-wheel, a reversing-valve, and a hand-lever having connection with the reversingvalve and the said hanger, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

SIGLE S. BLE VINS.

\Vitnesses:

J ONES BIDDLE, FRANK NEFF.

IIO 

